Error 601-401 GM Bublex response

[Sindweller]

I would like to add some thorough insight to GM Bublex finaly response to the on going error code 401 601 with payment issues.

GM Bublex wrote

Hello,

If you are receiving an error 601 or error 401 when attempting to update your payment method, then there is an issue where the financial institution is declining the authorization attempt. Unfortunately, as SQUARE ENIX is not the financial institution, we are not provided with any information as to why the authorization was declined, only that it was. Please confirm that all billing information is entered correctly on the SQUARE ENIX Account in question. Please also note that once an authorization has been rejected, that form of payment cannot be attempted again for a full twenty-four hours, and any further attempts before that time will automatically be rejected. If you would like further information about this specific authorization attempt, please contact your financial institution. If you wish to begin playing immediately, please choose a different payment option and payment method, available through the SQUARE ENIX Account Management System.

Regards,
GM Bublex

there is an issue where the financial institution is declining the authorization attempt

To be clear on this point, which financial are institution are you specifically referring to ? is it,

A) Our banks authorization mechanism that is rejecting the transaction
or
B) Your financial merchant that is rejecting the transaction

If the case is A, then a resolution does exist to the issue. Basically contacting our own card issuer will highly likely resolve the issue as its a security measure on our account that can be easily lifted upon our request.

If the case is B, then the problem is not remotely related to our card issuer, and it is in your own initiative to contact your merchant and inquire the reason for declination. From my lengthy online purchasing experience I would randomly say a possible reason would be a fraud flag being raised for example. Now then again its your (SE) duty to lift any restrictions that can limit customer payments, that is if you care about this issue to some level.

I am sorry but the response you gave is blunt and leaves us with no resolution, I wanted to point this out and make it clear that there are measures that can be taken, yet your post sounded like no one from SE side was willing or ready to look into the matter, leaving us in a useless situation.

If anyone else can content or add some insight to this would be great, we really would love to start playing again, so we hope SE would love to take an action on this too!

[wingofbenu]

pretty much I translate it as "Its not SE's fault no matter what even if you've already called your bank because reasons"

also love how they closed the thread so as to make utterly sure that the topic disappears asap.

[Aketo]

I am not surprised, shame really, we wanted help not a copy and paste response.

[Alerith]

This is a load of crap.

You mean to tell me that, all of a sudden, hundreds of users with a variety of credit cards from various financial institutions all have the exact same problem at the exact same time? The common denominator here is the SE Billing Department.

[bwalker36]

That means your bank/issuer is saying no to SE. You should call them. I thought it was pretty straight forward and they even said to call your institution. It could have been better but it was a response that provided everything. I'm more surprised you got a response lol.

[Corrderio]

Well I did give my bank a call and they did find 2 attempts which were denied due to me entering my security code incorrectly. However, I can only speak for myself in that regard. This is still an issue that is hitting a pretty big handful of people and I really wish it is something SE would look into.

Best advice I can really give is get on the phone with your bank ASAP and ask them to look into any denied credit card charges between the time(s) you've attempted to get in and see if your bank can resolve it since it's clear as day SE has no intention of doing anything. It's been what? 10? 11 years since FFXI came out? I wasn't expecting their services to get worse since then.

[Eminleo]

Most of us have tried anything we can possibly do for more than a few hours, and all we got is "Call your bank, nothing to do with us." Way to go SE.

[wingofbenu]

That means your bank/issuer is saying no to SE. You should call them. I thought it was pretty straight forward and they even said to call your institution. It could have been better but it was a response that provided everything. I'm more surprised you got a response lol.

you do realize a lot of the people in the very thread they were responding to said they had already tried calling their banks, right?

[Snooj]

Unfortunately, SE, it is not our financial institution that is incorrect. If it were, then it wouldn't have been possible to subscribe one account but not another on my one credit card. It also wouldn't have been possible for SE to charge my husband's credit card the $1 credit card fee but not the subscription. It, again, wouldn't have been possible to finally pay UltimatePay with my own credit card--the one you approved of one moment and rejected the next--to get crysta.

There probably are people who simply entered incorrect information or have an issue with their credit card. I highly suspect they're the minority here.

I cannot highlight this enough: SE, the error is not from our end. I do not know if the problem is with your own code or the financial merchant you use, but regardless of where the problem lies it's not something we the customer can control. Thus, it is SE's problem.

As for the other payment methods, yes, my husband finally gave up and went to UltimatePay. They charge an extra fee though, so this isn't exactly a solution. On top of that, due to SE's error of still charging him that $1 fee when he tried to pay SE directly, we have to now ask for a refund or proceed with a chargeback. The solution is for SE is fix this error. This is incredibly poor customer service. Of all things to provide poor service for, I don't think I've ever witnessed a company reject people's money and deny that's a problem.

[Corrderio]

As for the other payment methods, yes, my husband finally gave up and went to UltimatePay. They charge an extra fee though, so this isn't exactly a solution. On top of that, due to SE's error of still charging him that $1 fee when he tried to pay SE directly, we have to now ask for a refund or proceed with a chargeback. The solution is for SE is fix this error. This is incredibly poor customer service. Of all things to provide poor service for, I don't think I've ever witnessed a company reject people's money and deny that's a problem.

You should get the dollar charged back to you. Someone said it was a soft charge or whatever it's called just to make sure the credit card is legit. The dollar will be issued back to the card holder. As for when, I can't say.